Our Mission

To provide high quality parent stock for those breeding and/or rearing chickens to produce quality eggs in free range conditions where surplus cocks and end-of-lay hens can be economically utilized as meat birds; thereby providing a healthier source of protein and essential nutrients than can be obtained from commercially raised broilers and the smaller sized commercial battery-kept cross-bred hens.  

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Our Focus

We specialize in breeding high quality Standard-bred dual-purpose chickens suitable for both meat and egg production of the following breeds: New Hampshires, Potchefstroom Koekoeks, Rhode Island Reds and Australorps.

 

 

Unlike commercial crossbreeds, pure bred poultry can in turn can be bred from and will produce offspring true to type. Breeding with crosses produce unpredictable results and is hardly ever commercially viable.

As an added bonus, dual purpose hens (depending on breed) weigh at least twice the weight of cross-bred commercial layers and correspondingly fetch higher prices when culled out. Similarly, redundant cocks can be economically reared and sold as meat birds. In contrast the males of pure egg-laying birds are worth almost nothing and are normally destroyed at hatching.

Unlike commercial crosses which tend to be "laid out" after only one season, Standard-bred dual purpose breeds lay even more eggs in their second season. In their third season they lay almost as much as during their first season. It declines after that, but some keep laying until eight years and more. This makes them more economical as a free or semi-free ranging birds to the small scale egg farmer. As chickens only start laying at about 6 months of age, it is much cheaper to maintain hens for the three month moulting period between laying seasons, particularly if their diet is supplemented with kitchen scraps, than replacing them with day-olds after only one season. An added bonus is that the pure bred chickens we keep, keep laying throughout the moult; albeit at about half to a third of normal egg production. Point of lay or just in lay pullets are not only expensive, but difficult to find.

Quality is another important factor: it costs just as much to keep a low quality badly producing chicken as a high quality bird with superior production.

In short, good quality dual purpose Standard Bred chickens are ideal for the small scale poultry keeper. That said, "Standard Bred" is not necessary a guarantee of good quality, only that they are "pure bred" and will reproduce to type. To produce good quality, one still needs to select.

Full Breed Standards of all our poultry are available from the website of the Southern African Show Poultry Organisation (SASPO).